Gang member sentenced to five years in prison for machine gun possession

By STEVE KOBAK Hour Staff Writer

Published
8:42 am EST, Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sentrell Bookhardt was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court Tuesday for possession of a machine gun and held on a cash bond of $150,000. Hour photo / Erik Trautmann

Sentrell Bookhardt was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court Tuesday for possession of a machine gun and held on a cash bond of $150,000. Hour photo / Erik Trautmann

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Sentrell Bookhardt was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court Tuesday for possession of a machine gun and held on a cash bond of $150,000. Hour photo / Erik Trautmann

Sentrell Bookhardt was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court Tuesday for possession of a machine gun and held on a cash bond of $150,000. Hour photo / Erik Trautmann

Gang member sentenced to five years in prison for machine gun possession

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NORWALK — A gang member who was caught with a World War II-era submachine gun was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Sentrell Bookhardt, 27, will also serve three years of supervised release for possession of an unregistered machine gun. Bookhardt had faced up to 71 months in prison for the offense. He is currently serving a 15-month sentence in state prison for violation of probation.

Bookhardt, a known member of the MGs, a Norwalk street gang, was carrying a backpack and hanging out at the Monterey Village housing complex on Jan. 26, 2013, police said.

Believing that Bookhardt was trespassing in the area, Officer Thomas Sullivan stopped to question Bookhardt, police said. The pair carried on a casual conversation.

Sullivan asked for Bookhardt's ID, and Bookhardt handed him his state identification card, police said.

When Sullivan asked to look in Bookhardt's blue backpack, Bookhardt became standoffish and eventually ran from the area, according to police.

Police did not locate Bookhardt, but his backpack was found in a dumpster, police said.

In it, police found a STEN Mark III 9mm submachine gun loaded with 27 rounds, according to police.

Newly released court documents reveal that the machine gun did not have markings or a serial number.

The STEN submachine gun was commonly used by British Special Forces during conflicts in the mid-20th Century and is capable of firing nine rounds per second.

After failing to find Bookhardt despite an intense search of the area, police caught up with Bookhardt by using the GPS coordinates of his ankle bracelet, court documents show.

Bookhardt has three previous gun-related convictions.

His first gun conviction came when he was 17-years-old in Feb. 2004. After serving three months for that conviction, he was arrested again after firing a gun at his ex-girlfriend and narrowly missing her head.

In 2010, he was sentenced to three years in prison after getting caught with drugs, packaging equipment and a loaded revolver.

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